Who We Are

The California Migration Museum creates immersive experiences and exhibits that tell the stories of immigrants and refugees in California.

Our work explores the complex history of welcome, exclusion, displacement and resistance that has shaped California. It questions who “we” are—and who we want to become.

  • Migrant Footsteps is our series of immersive audio walks and 360 videos that invite you into the center of California’s migration stories. Each tour combines music, oral history, archival research and augmented reality to take you on a multi-sensory walk through five neighborhoods in San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

    Tours are self-guided and free to download in the CalMigration App. Learn more and get started.

  • Our experiences are just the beginning of a thought-provoking conversation: one that continues in the café after the tour ends and at themed public events.

  • Migrants’ voices tell their stories: helping California’s immigrants and their children root themselves in their state’s history.

Our Team


  • Founder & Director

    Katy Long has worked on refugee and migration issues for over a decade. Born in the UK, she became an immigrant herself when she moved to San Francisco in 2014. Katy has held faculty positions at the Universities of Oxford, LSE and Edinburgh, as well as a Visiting Fellowship at Stanford. She's worked on a range of projects with organizations, including the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the International Labor Organization, the World Bank and the Migration Policy Institute.

    In the past 5 years, her focus has been on migration storytelling, and she's presented and produced several BBC Radio documentaries, as well as written for publications including The Guardian and The Washington Post. Katy believes telling migration history right is vital, because only then can we understand who "we" are now — and who we want to become. That's why in 2021 she founded the California Migration Museum.


  • Director, Research & Production

    Gabby Santas was born and raised in the Bay Area by two California natives. Her public history work across cultural institutions has been guided by the strong belief in the power of community-based knowledge and innovative storytelling to change minds. She feels passionately about how CMM's work can link with contemporary movements for justice. On a sunny day you can find her reading a book in Dolores Park, looking for weird art at the flea market, or roping people into a game of bananagrams. Gabby holds a degree in Anthropology from Brown University.

  • Director, Community & Communications

    Julia Malta-Weingard is a creative producer and audience engagement specialist. Her work focuses on designing experiences that connect people across cultures, disciplines, and generations. Over the past 15 years, she has partnered with arts and cultural organizations throughout the country including Pop-Up Magazine, StoryCorps, Youth Radio, Maker Faire, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, California 100, and the New York Transit Museum.

    In recent years you might have run into her producing a swing dance party aboard historic subway cars, telling stories at a Moth slam, or reciting facts about Jane Jacobs and her urban design principles. Julia holds a BA in World Arts & Cultures from UCLA, and a Masters in Arts Management from Columbia University.


  • Social Media Strategist & Manager

    Light Liu is a brand storyteller and creative technologist. She is a child of immigrants, an in-between experience that taught her to approach stories as overlapping systems. In recent years, she has worked with organizations in education and arts such as The Moth, Floating, and Avenues: The World School. She holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and is studying Full Stack Web Development at Pasadena City College.

    Find her on the road on a Honda CB500X in the desert, along the coast, and winding through the mountains, checking out tiny museums and trying local foods along the way.

  • Audio Producer & Editor

    Cathy Edwards is an award-winning audio producer and story editor who recently arrived in the Bay Area from London, UK. She specializes in documentaries for global audiences, always looking for human tales that move and inspire; it’s a privilege for her to work on CMM’s powerful stories of migration. When Cathy’s not audio-wrangling she can be found on bikes, buses and BART; tending herbs in her local community farm; or singing in multilingual choirs.

    She has a BA in Spanish & Russian from the University of Cambridge, and a MA in Language Documentation & Description from SOAS, University of London.

  • Sam Rochelle is a creative technologist specializing in immersive audiovisual production, human-computer interaction (HCI), and brand identity. Sam holds dual degrees in Cognitive Neuroscience and Interactive Media Design (MCM II) from Brown University, where his academic study of human perceptual awareness intersected with highly technical training in motion design, audio engineering, and UI/UX development. Sam champions the idea that the most joyful, intuitive and impactful digital experiences require heavy consideration for the sensory awareness & psychology of the intended user.

Advisory Board

  • Claire Adida

    Professor of Political Science, UCSD

  • Leticia Landa

    Deputy Director, La Cocina

  • Alex Aleinikoff

    Director, Zolberg Institute, New School

  • Sarah Pharaon

    Principal, Dialogic Consulting

  • Tomas Jimenez

    Professor of Sociology, Stanford University

  • Adam Strom

    Director, Re-imagining Migration

  • Jason de Leon

    Professor of Anthropology, UCLA

  • Edward Tepporn

    Executive Director, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

  • Joe Zadeh

    Former Airbnb VP of Product & Head of Airbnb Experiences

Get in Touch

Or reach out to us at info@calmigration.org.

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